WE CAN'T ACCUSE IRAN, BUT IRANIAN SUPPORT REACHES REBELS, SAYS PRESIDENT SALEH

SANA'A, Sep. 12 (Saba) - President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said that the al-Houthi rebels fighting the government forces in the northern parts of Saada and Amran for years received support from Iranian bodies.

"Yemen can't accuse the Iranian government of providing support for the rebels, but when Iran says it can mediate between the government and the rebels this means it contacts the rebels", Saleh said in an interview with Al-Jazeear News Channel aired on Friday night.

"Two rebel rings have been arrested and they told interrogators the al-Houthi followers received financial support from Iranian bodies worth $ 100.000", Saleh said.

During the interview, Saleh highlighted the short-lived suspension of military operations in Saada and Amran that came in response to the calls of relief organizations to allow in aid for the affected and commitment of the rebels to stop fighting and more destructive acts.

He also touched upon all efforts exerted to contain the situation in Saada since confrontations started in 2004, saying the government always preferred solving the matter through dialog and showed this through truce initiatives it announced and stopping military action against the rebels several times.

He also talked about the Qatari mediation between the rebels and the government, saying the rebels insist on rebellion, and affirming all the Yemeni people and political spectrum are against this destructive movement.

The full interview was aired in the (Special Encounter) programme on al-Jazeera TV as following:

[al-Jazeera TV] We are hosting Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to speak on the war in Saada, the truce, relations with neighbouring countries, tension with Iran and other issues.

Thank you, Your Excellency, for agreeing to talk to us. Your Excellency, a few days after the announcement of the truce, daily fighting resumed between you and the Al-Houthis. Are you certain that the truce will hold?

[Saleh] First of all, we regret that. We suspended military operations based on demands by international organizations, relief committees, and citizens who have been harmed by the war in Saada Governorate. We had made a decision to suspend the fighting. This was also based on the al-Huothi demand for a cease-fire, and in order to open the roads, remove the mines, and prevent attacks on citizens, the Armed Forces, and security forces personnel. However, with utter regret, they have not committed themselves to the ceasefire at all. Judging by their statements, they continue to insist on continuing their attacks against the Armed Forces, the security forces, and the citizens.

They have not abided by the ceasefire at all. We had wished that they would abide by the ceasefire conditions in order to be able to send relief and succor to the area and ease the difficulties of the citizens who were harmed by the war. But regrettably, they have insisted on continuing the war. Yet, the Armed Forces and the security forces are defending themselves and responding to them whenever they commit aggression at any position and in any area.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Does this mean that you will continue to respond to their fire if violations continue?

[Saleh] We cannot stand with folded arms. We are forced to respond to them. Our positions are coming under fire and attacks and we are compelled to do that, but we had hoped that they would stop their attacks against the armed forces, the police and citizens.

[Al-Jazeera TV] But the Al-Houthis accuse you of exploiting the truce and using it as a tool to deceive Western public opinion.

[Saleh] This is their philosophy and they have been using it repeatedly. To explain this, I say that they have demanded a truce repeatedly and we suspended operations many times. We stopped our operations five times and each time they exploited the cease-fire to prepare explosives and locally made mines, and hoard Arms, equipment, and ammunition. These arms reach them through the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. The sources of war equipment are known. They are also sent by arms merchants. Therefore, obviously they want to rebuild their forces. Judging by their frank utterances, they think that they have a legitimate right to rule the country and take over power, that the authorities that have been ruling Yemen since the revolution; that is, for 47 years, have been usurping power. They say that they have a divine right to rule. They claim that they are from the descendents of the Prophet, may God's peace and blessings be upon him. But they are killers, rebels, and outlaws, and our great Yemeni people, including the various political forces, are against this group, which I consider to be a tyrannical group, an illegal group that violates law and order. We must continue our task to remove this malignant cancer from the body of the Yemeni nation.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Do you believe in a political solution between you and the Al-Houthis in the future?

[Saleh] We believe in political solutions. We told them that if they were prepared to stop violence, rebellion, sabotage, and violations of law and order, and if they wanted to be a political force like other political forces, we would have no objection. Come and you will be licensed and you can form a political party. Their name is the Al-Haqq [Truth] Party or the so-called Believer Youths. Their name was the Al-Haqq Party and they are represented within the parties that form the Joint Gathering. We have dissolved Al-Haqq Party. Indeed, it dissolved itself. Part of them, the moderates, dissolved themselves and said there was no need for this party, but what was left of them are continuing their policy and they have a representative with the Joint Gathering parties.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Do I understand from what you say that the ceiling that the Al-Houthis will be given will be a political party, and that they can join and be part of the political life of Yemen?

[Saleh] We have no objections. If they stop the insurgency, the violence, and terrorism in this area, we will have no objection to treating them as a political force in accordance with the law.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Will you agree to an Arab and regional mediation, as you did with the Qataris?

[Saleh] The Qatari mediation was good and successful but they did not abide by the agreement. The Qatari brothers were compelled to withdraw their mediation based on the fact that the official side, the government side, implemented all the points that were agreed in Doha but the Al-Houthi did not implement them. The last point presented by the Qatari brothers demands that the Al-Houthis come down from the Izzan Mountain, because their presence threaten the safety and security of planes at the Saada Airport. One of the points stipulates that they abandon the Izzan Mountain. They refused to abide by this condition and the Qatari brothers were forced to withdraw their mediation. However, we, the government side, were committed and we implemented all points mentioned in the Doha agreement.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Do you believe, here in Yemen, that the Al-Houthis are implementing a foreign agenda?

[Saleh] Well, I can say that they have a racist agenda. You can describe it as racist. They are selfish and they believe that they have a divine right, that the revolution...

[Al-Jazeera TV, interrupting] ... that they are from the house of the Prophet, and based on this...

[Saleh, interrupting] That they are from the house of the Prophet, and such things. The other thing is that they have an agenda, and they have contacts with some groups in Iran. We cannot say for certain they have contacts with the official side there. We cannot accuse the Iranian official side, but the Iranians are contacting us, saying that they are prepared for a mediation. This means that the Iranians have contacts with them, given that they want to mediate between the Yemeni government and them. Also Muqtada al-Sadr in Al-Najaf in Iraq is asking that he be accepted as a mediator. This means they have a link.

We can say with all transparency that they are receiving assistance. No doubt about that. The security services found two Yemeni cells, which they say they are backed by and which received money from certain sides in Iran to the amount of $100,000. They are being tried now. A number of them were given court sentences.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Are you planning to talk to Tehran on this issue?

[Saleh] I have talked with Tehran, with the speaker of the Iranian parliament and the foreign minister and told them if they have relations with them or if the Al-Houthis have relations with Iran, they must persuade them that this violence will be to no avail. The other thing is that if there are certain sides in Iran that want to settle scores here or there - let us be clear about this, with the Americans, or with Saudi Arabia, or with the Gulf states - these Iranian sides should not shed Yemeni blood - because this is Muslim blood - in order to resolve their problems with the United States or the Gulf Cooperation Council states.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Have you received any response from Iran?

[Saleh] We received a response. They said that they were prepared to sponsor a secret mediation between the Yemeni government and them, with assistance from the State of Qatar. That was what we heard from Teheran recently.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Will you accept this?

[Saleh] Well, what does this mediation mean? What will its effect be? We will not deal with the Al-Houthis as equals. The state is a state and these citizens are outlaws and we must deal with them with a view to bringing them to their senses.

[Al-Jazeera TV] But you are disturbed by the Iranian media treatment of this issue.

[Saleh] Iranian media, and also some non-Iranian media, are no longer professional media.

[Al-Jazeera TV] You think that they have exploited this issue?

[Saleh] Some of the channels that we back have also not been objective. We had been the first to back them, thinking that they would be a good forum to convey opinions and counteropinion, even though we are sensitive to this issue because they cover the Israeli enemy stands. We said that this would be all right and we agreed to listen to the views of others. We oppose any channel that promotes the policy of the Zionist entity in the region.

[Al-Jazeera TV] There is a spate of accusations and counteraccusations between the Yemeni government and the Al-Houthis. You speak of external agenda and the Al-Houthi say that their cause is a cause of the oppressed - freedom of religious opinion and rites, dealing with poverty, and the absence of an agenda to develop their region.

[Saleh] No, let me explain to you their views. They accuse the regime of being against the Zaydi community, even though we are Zaydis. I am a Zaydi. Nobody says that the Zaydi books or the Zaydi denominations are wrong at all. All this is intended to deceive the public. These are mere allegations. There is no oppression. It is the state that is unfairly treated because they launch acts of terrorism, damage the infrastructure, cut off roads, and destroy hospitals, health centres, and schools. They blow up bridges, attack electric power lines, and sabotage the economy. Who is oppressed? These are false allegations.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Another matter. The Al-Houthis released a tape about what they described as ammunition they captured, which carry the official seal of Saudi Arabia. They say that you are fighting a war by proxy on behalf of Saudi Arabia.

[Saleh] This is just propaganda so they might receive support from other forces, from some groups, ayatollahs, or religious authorities here and there, especially in Iran. They tell these people that they are fighting the Wahhabi faith. We do not have a Wahhabi faith. We have two denominations: The Shafi'i and the Zaydi denominations. They are in agreement and they do not differ with one another. But this is intended for obtaining money.

[Al-Jazeera TV] You have spoken of historical similarity between the Zaydis and the Sunnis, and the entire world believes that the Sunnis and Zaydis have lived in an atmosphere of amity and tolerance. Do you not fear now that the issue of Saada, the talk about an Iranian agenda, an extremist Shi'i concept...

[Saleh, interrupting] There is an agenda by unofficial Iranian groups.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Dear viewers, we will have a short break, after which we will resume our interview with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. [Break]

Welcome once again. Our guest in this "Special Encounter" is His Excellency Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Your Excellency do you not fear that Yemen might be transformed into an arena of regional struggle?

[Saleh] That is what we do not want. Yemen should not be an arena for settling scores or implementing any external agendas. Any disturbance in Yemeni security and any instability of the Yemen people, government, or regime will destabilize the region. It will have an adverse effect not only on the Yemenis themselves but also on the states in the region, and will influence international peace as well. We are also facing piracy in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden. These will be part of the destabilization that will develop if everyone wants to settle his scores through certain forces inside Yemen, or through elements that want to take revenge against the political regime and to retaliate, because some of the political forces have such a history of grudges; I mean the political forces that we are talking about.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Certainly we will be discussing domestic issues.

[Saleh] For instance, let us take the opposition. Most of the opposition had these tendencies in the past. Let me tell you about these. The Socialist Party bears grudges against the political regime in Yemen.

[Al-Jazeera TV] In this regard, there has been a plan for what was called salvation presented by the opposition parties concerning political solutions. What do you think of it?

[Saleh] First of all, I consider that the parties of the Joint Gathering have the same grudges of the past. Second, they have no vision. Third, when I talk about past history, I mean that the Socialist Party wants to take revenge against the regime, because they agreed to unity but went back on this agreement. They created a crisis in 1993 and waged a total war in 1994 and declared secession. However, legitimacy triumphed against their projects.

The second party is the Nasirists. They have grudges against the political regime. What are they? They staged a coup in 1978 and this coup and [word indistinct]. The third is the Al-Haqq Party, which we consider illegitimate, an illegal party, and which is linked to the Saada war. These want to bring back the Imamate. They have been having grudges against the political regime since the revolution. They want the Imamate back. The Muslim Brotherhood Movement for reform was with us against the Al-Houthi, against the secession. They were with us in a government coalition. They entered the administration but had no experience in managing the affairs of the state and the government. They failed abjectly. Then they joined the opposition. So they decided to bring down the temple over the heads of their enemies and their own heads, and thus they joined the forces that they could not stand; namely, the Al-Houthi and the Socialist Party, which they had previously considered their primary adversary, and then they joined the Nasirists which they had previously considered extremist forces.

They formed this coalition. What was the aim? The aim was to take over power. They say they want a national salvation government, even though they themselves need someone to salvage them because they do not have any means of salvation. These forces, as I said, had a bad history. We had local elections, presidential elections, and parliamentary elections. The people did not vote for them; they did not trust them. They came to realize their true size. Now they are creating confusion and crises in the country and they want to destroy their enemies and themselves at the same time and thus destroy the homeland. We called on them to come for dialogue but they rejected dialogue. They demanded a postponement of elections and we postponed the elections. We did all this for the sake of Yemen's security, stability, and peace. We did not want to start a struggle with them. I feel that some of these forces are seeking revenge not only against the regime but against the homeland as well.

[Al-Jazeera TV] But they have other proposals. While talking to some of them, they told me that the old guard within the Yemeni regime, which is working against the interests of the country, that they want to escalate tension in the south and in the north. They say: We have presented new proposals because after all we are political partners in this country and the regime cannot cancel us as an opposition.

[Saleh] We say that the opposition is the other voice of the political regime. It is not an enemy of the homeland. So come and take your seats. You have participated in the local, parliamentary, and presidential elections with a programme and you failed. But I succeeded. You have a programme and other agendas, then come and work until the next local, parliamentary, or presidential elections are held. Bring your programmes. You cannot impose your programme and vision on others. The programme that is being implemented now is the one that wins the trust of the people.

[Al-Jazeera TV] But elections should have been held last April and they have been postponed until an agreement is reached on a new concept for political reform and for the voting system.

[Saleh] They rejected it.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Yet, no meeting took place.

[Saleh] They refused to come to the dialogue to correct the electoral system or the political system. They rejected this and they remained intransigent. I frankly say that they are in a crisis. They have no vision because they have no experience. They have no experience in the system of government. They always shout and they are using the media. They can call Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya or Al-Alam and make statements. They have no vision. These forces do not trust each other. They trade accusations.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Do you not think that in view of these new political conditions a federation might be a better political system for the Yemenis?

[Saleh] We were supposed to have a federation or confederation at the beginning of the unity and continue with this until the full merger is established. But the Socialist Party itself insisted - we also insisted - on full merger. Why is it retreating from its position today? It is retreating from its position on the full merger as it retreated from the unity decision. These are contradictions. Unity should have been reached gradually. There should have been a confederation, then a federation, and then full unity. They should not begin with a full unity and then retreat and say: Either secession or confederation. Now they have three situations: The federation, the Al-Makhalif [provincial, decentralized] system, and local authority with wide powers. Choose one of them. Which one you want? The federation? The federation is followed by another local government system. Do you want a confederation?

They do not have a programme. Those who theorize for them have the mentality that prevailed in the 1950's and 1960's. They have nothing to offer. All their agendas and documents are [words indistinct]. Most of this is spite. One of them left power because he was corrupt. Another was corrupt in state departments. Some were stealing money from consulates abroad and stealing state funds. They became heroes when they left authority. All of them were in power. They left the government after they were condemned. You were not able to manage your departments and yet you practiced financial corruption and everything.

[Al-Jazeera TV] But they have another idea. They say President Ali Abdullah Saleh of 1994 is not the same President Saleh of 2009. His plan for unity was idealistic then, they say. Now he has turned into a man who wants to monopolize power. Therefore he has excluded us and we have the right to express our opinions.

[Saleh] Let them express their opinions. I rely on the constitution and on the Yemeni institutions. These will be the terms of reference. You cannot be an opposition and my partner in authority at the same time. It is either one or the other. You have to agree with me on a programme, and we will rule together or you will remain in the opposition and struggle until you reach power.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Do you have any fears that certain regional states are trying to destabilize southern Yemen?

[Saleh] I do not believe so.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Any specific countries?

[Saleh] No, no. Not the neighbouring states.

[Al-Jazeera TV] I would like to ask you a question, Mr President, concerning Al-Qa'idah and Guantanamo. Have you reached any agreement with the United States concerning the 100 Yemeni detainees in Guantanamo?

[Saleh] Yes, we reached an agreement with the Bush administration that they would build facilities in Yemen to rehabilitate them and enable them to meet with their families. The Americans said that they would try to acquire the money to build these facilities from neighbouring countries. We welcomed this idea, based on their release. We would appoint lecturers from universities, clergymen, preachers, and religious scholars to help make them good citizens. Now the Bush administration has gone and we have the Obama administration, which had been trying to transfer them to Saudi Arabia. We refused this.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Because it is a question of Yemeni sovereignty.

[Saleh] We refused to send them to Saudi Arabia. Why do you not hand them over to Yemen and we would receive them in the places that you said you would prepare and equip for their rehabilitation, or we can place them in prisons and you will give us their dossiers. We will put them on trial. Those who are proven to have been involved in terrorism will be tried at Yemeni courts and the innocent ones would be released. They said: No, we want them to be in Saudi Arabia, close to their families because most of their families are in Saudi Arabia.

[Al-Jazeera TV] If you excuse me, I would like to interrupt you, Mr President. There is a problem here. The United States believes that you have a suspicious history as a state of Yemen, of allowing some detainees to escape or facilitating their escape from Yemeni jails, and they do not want to repeat the same scenario.

[Saleh] That is not true. First of all, they escaped against the will of the security services. Most of them were brought back. Only very few are still at large, but most of them were returned to prison. We agreed to let them go to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but the Kingdom refused to receive them. Therefore, we are prepared to receive them and welcome them in their country. As I said, they will appear in court after we have their dossiers, and then those involved in terrorist activities would be tried and those who are proven innocent would be released. That is our project with the Americans. If they want to build facilities for them, we are prepared for this. We have given them the land and the places where the buildings can be erected, and then we and them will contribute to rehabilitating them and enabling them to join the Yemeni society as good citizens.

[Al-Jazeera TV] Thank you very much, Mr. President.